PUBLIC WORKS SYSTEM

Taranaki Daily News, 19 April 1933, Page 9

PUBLIC WORKS SYSTEM

COMPLETE CHANGE DESIRED. THE CASE FOR ECONOMY. Reorganisation of the public works system, along, the. lines that /he public purse and true' economy demands, is more than ever urgent, says a statement by the Associated Chambers of Commerce. In this direction the valuable recommendations of the National Expenditure Commission- still ■ await - adoption. Now that the Prime Minister has publicly announced' Jiis agreement with the Associated Chambers that State expenditure must be further reduced in keeping with the fail in the national income, attention must again be concentrated on means . of- effecting economy. In this connection the public works system is a worthy if neglected subject. The National Expenditure Commission, without casting any. reflection on the officers of the department, unanimously .recommended a reversion to the contract system of carrying out public works, which it considered would have an immediate and far-reaching result in so far as the present organisation of the department was concerned. . . ;

There would no longer be any necessity for the maintenance of a large administrative staff designed to control and carry out public works in every corner of the Dominion, said the Commission, the" administrative staff could be reduced to an advisory and inspectorial staff, and the clerical and accounting system could be greatly simplified. A month after the presentation of this report the Minister of Public Works made a public statement on the economies that had been carried out in the department. He showed that, as compared with 1930-31, gross administrative costs had’ been reduced by £200,000, and the staff by 41 per cent, while a total reduction of the staff by 50 per cent.' was in sight. It was intended".as a general policy that future works be undertaken by public tender as far as practicable, he said. Taking this measure of economy on its merits, it is to be noted that by far the greater reduction has been in the number of temporary officers—a reduction of 61 per cent.—while;.; the personnel of. permanent officers has been reduced by only 13 per cent. This latter reduction is out of all proportion to the smaller amount of money now available for public works. The amount spent by the department in 1930-31, under all; accounts, was £9,307,113, according to the report of the National. Expenditure Commission, while the Prime Minister stated in Auckland recently that the amount available for public works for the financial year now entered into would be between two and three million pounds. Taking £2,500,000 as the figure, a reduction of 73 per cent, is shown in the amount of money available for public works, as compared with 1930-31, so that staff adjustments to date have far from remedied the top-heavy nature of the department. The Minister of Public Works stated that the position that must' be recognised was that the lesser amount of work consequent on the restriction of loan money for public works did not warrant the retention of as many officers as the department had had and there was no course open but retrenchment. The Minister then indicated that the total remaining staff of 995 was to De further reduced by 22. Obviously, ostentation is still being maintained around the tomb of extravagant loan expenditure on public works. It is time the orisons were concluded. It has been pointed out by the Minister that the department does not spend only loan money, but that its activities are many and varied. This is undeniably the case, but necessity ought to make it possible for certain activities to be delegated—to private contractors where possible—and minor activities to be suspended. If private contracts were reverted to, there would be no necessity for a department of such dimensions as at present. The Minister himself agreed that if all works were carried out by private contract, it would be possible to reduce the staff of the department still further. '. . The National Expenditure Commission is emphatic on the point, as is shown in the following passage from its report: “We feel so confident, that a reversion to the contract system is the only satisfactory basis on which true economy can be obtained that we have not considered it necessary to inquire into the possibilities of effecting economy, assuming the present policy is to be continued.” Not merely pruning of the present system of public works, which has been the sum of economy to date, but a complete change in the system,is necessary to meet the needs of the situation.